Water Proofing - The one thing the Council is super fussy about

KATOOMBA COTTAGE UPDATE - ENJOY ;-)

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When it comes to pleasing the Council, this is the job they want to see done & done well!
Only thing is it makes for very boring photos.

Emer Proof 695 is a 'Parchem' product http://www.parchem.com.au/  and I have used their range of fabulous water proofing products in the passed, it is in my opinion the best on the market and easy to use.

Jarad Turner is my account manager and super helpful, he has come on site a couple of times and always more then willing to give advice, actually he gave me an on the spot demo, the more I talked, the more he painted the wall ;-)

First you need to coat the area with 'Emer Proof WB Primer'. This product is like painting on water but looks like milk so make sure you keep it well out of the way of children.
Then prepare the joins and cover over all the nail heads with a polyurethane, Parchem have their own product though I used 'Sika Bond' http://www.homedepot.com/hdus/en_US/DTCCOM/HomePage/Brand_Pages/Sika/Docs/Sealants_Adhesives_How-To.pdf   it is also a polyurethane.

This can be applied with a brush to the corners and a roller brush for the main areas. I used a mini sized pan & roller and you need to do 2 coats allowing a few hours to dry in between pending the weather.

Sika has a great range of products, check out their web site. Though as you can see I ran out of white and the only colour the local 'Home' http://www.homehardware.com.au/home/default.asp hardware had was this woeful brown ;-(

 If any floor to wall joins or gaps around the windows are too large, you will have to use a packing foam rod which looks a bit like white spaghetti and you can buy it from the hardware either in a bag or by the meter, it's cheap and comes in 6mm, 10mm & 20mm. You poke this into the joints, I gave the rod a smug coating of 'Sika Bond' first just to glue it into the space & seal the back of the gap. Then using a gun or your finger with gloves of course, smooth the polyurethane over the rod & joint to fill the space and create a smooth finish.

 This is the foam rod which I like to call spaghetti. Below is a section from the Parchem tech sheet.

And this is how the gap around the bathroom window finished up using the instructions above. The Emer Proof 695 will be painted over the yuk brown polyurethane.

Pack the foam rod into the gaps around the windows and the floor to wall gaps & smoother it with Sika Bond.

Now I can just hear you saying what on earth are these. Well when you have to be on your knees, these little gems are a gift from heaven. Yes knee pads and cost around $10 at your hardware, a fashion must have for the hardened water proofer, oh and they keep your knees warm ;-)

It is super important to put your sealant in all the corners and gaps; I put 'Sika Bond' in all the corner joints going right up to the ceiling especially around the shower areas. Once all the gaps are filled, nail heads have a smooth coating, don't leave lumps, a good smearing around drain holes and all corners have been smudged with the polyurethane, the base prep work is done and now to wait for it to dry before starting with the Emer Proof 695 coating.

Now to the fun part, I like to do a few of thing coats with a roller brush first, actually I did 4 thin coats, yes over kill but this way it builds a strong base before I work on thicker coats.

I thought I would try a video to show how you need to slap the 'Emer Proof 695' on, hope it's not too big & works.

It is a good idea to paint the water proofing passed the door where carpet or the timber flooring will be laid, it's a just in case precaution and you can see that I have slapped some Emer Proof 695 onto the bottom of the timber door frames, why not, saves any issues in the future.

I also feel it is important to paint up the walls much higher than standard requirements which I think is about 15cm, I have gone up to 1.5 meters on the regular walls and to the ceiling in the shower areas, again, over kill but why not saves on big water issues in the future.

 I have now started on my 2 thicker coats which was part of the demo that Jarad gave me. You can see the Emer Proof 695 leaves thick brush strokes but don't leave lumps especially in corners as your tiles won't butt up to the wall neatly.

After all of the above has dried completely the floor is ready for the tillers to come in and lay the cement screed

Henry's boys, they worked on my home in Erskineville and their work is very fine.

 A smooth cement finish is created that ever so slightly falls to the drain but leaving a level area for the free standing bath tub

A right angle alloy strip is glued down with Sika Bond at the door edge holding the cement in place and creating a straight line for the carpet or timber flooring to butt up against.

 Next, once the screed has dried completely, I gave all floors yet another 2 coats of Emer Proof 695. Now some are going to say I am out of my mind with all this water proofing but I am a strong believer in you can't have too much protection from water. If water wants to destroy an area it will and the damage can cost a fortune. Better to be super safe than sorry when you can least afford to replace the problems.
I gave the floors 2 sloppy coats but checking NOT to be too thick in the corners and you have to scrap out the build up of screed that the fellows have left. What you want is good clean, sharp corners so that the tiles fit flush.

 Below I have attached the technical sheets from Parchem with information and instructions on Emer Proof 695.
The tilers will start this week and the wet areas will really come to life and the Cottage will look so much more like a home. Meanwhile Nathan and his crew have been working on the front & rear decks and a few external items but they will be off working on another property until the tiles are finished.
I know this has been a long post but I can't stress to you how critically important water proofing is to your property safely.